Report 517
Report #517 Skillset: Nekotai Skill: Oothai Org: Nekotai Status: Rejected Dec 2010 Furies' Decision: We don't feel this is necessary at this present time but may consider this in the future. Problem: Oothai is an advanced choking grapple that deals static, asphyxiation damage in timed increments until target has writhed. Damage is increased 50 points point increase of strength, and net damage increases an additional 50% if target is prone. Overly inflated damage is achievable through the prone bonus combined with outlier strength attained through high racial strength, psychometabolism enhancement, high magic geburah, titan/demi stat bonus, enlarge, etc. The solutions provided in this report deal specifically with the source of the problem: unreasonable damage due to outlier strength. Solution #1: Bonus damage should be capped at 20 strength for all monk choke grapples. Anything above this threshold will be voided or offer diminishing returns. Solution #2: Eliminate +50% prone damage for all monk choke grapples (which falls in line that chokes are also ineligible for kata strength hard/soft bonuses). Solution #3: There is a considerable strength gap in monk friendly races: 7 str faeling to 16 str krokani. The composite of strength + dexterity is more consistent: 28 str+dex aslaran, 25 str+dex failing, 29 str+dex loboshigaru, 28 str+dex illithoid. Therefore revise the formula to reflect +15 damage per dexterity, and +35 damage per strength and adjust base as needed. Player Comments: ---on 12/7 @ 05:37 writes: I'm not sure how this interacts with report 481, but I'll go with Solution 2. ---on 12/7 @ 19:14 writes: I don't agree with solution 2 as I feel it's being addressed in report 418. Damage ought to be a viable method for monks, and I don't think removing the prone bonus entirely, even for grapples, is the right way to go. My favourite solution for 418 is solution 1 where the intent is to force monks to stack different types of prone, including grapples, if they want the damage bonus. However, this report does hit on a current problem with monk damage in general: the effects of strength versus dexterity. Solutions 1 and 3 seek to work towards this problem, and while I'm not positive that either are apt solutions for the problem in general. Thus, I will use this as an opportunity for the Furies to review how strength and dexterity work with monks. Strength should definitely matter, but not to its current extent where one can have almost no dexterity. ---on 12/7 @ 19:15 writes: I also don't agree with solution 2 as the Ninjakari depend greatly on grapples, although I now realize that solution 2 is focused on choke grapples, not grapples in general. ---on 12/7 @ 20:56 writes: Solution #3 looks good. ---on 12/8 @ 00:13 writes: I agree that solution #2 is better left to REPORT 481. I'm concerned solution #1 will work against psymet monks from getting full us from their natural skillets (i.e. psymet strength, highmagic geburah, etc.). I prefer solution #3 (or an administrative variation thereof) as it allows psymet monks to make perfectly good use of their enhancements while reining in outlier damage. ---on 12/11 @ 22:55 writes: Support solution 3 since it is the most innocuous, though I worry that damage may be cut too much if both this report and report 481 are implemented simultaneously. ---on 12/17 @ 05:28 writes: Solution 3